powerpuffgirlsfandomcom-20200223-history
Fallen Arches
Fallen Arches is the A half of first episode of season three of the Powerpuff Girls. It aired on July the 28 of 2000. In this episode a trio of old villains called the Ministry of Pain return. The girls intend to fight them, but Blossom claims that fighting their elders is the wrong way to approach the situation. She finds a possible scenario: recruit the former heroes who defeated the trio in the past. Too bad they can't agree with each other. Summary This episode start with the Narrator's famous line: "The city of Townsville..." instead of being told by the Narrator we hear the news reporter of Townsville on a news channel utter these words. To this he adds: Was once again on the brink of destruction today. But thanks to the brave efforts of those adorable Powerpuff girls, the day was saved. Up next, buying soap can-" Suddenly, the TV where report was being aired is turned off and trough the reflection we can see the figure of an old man frowning. He has a voluminous head, pointy ears and a pointy nose, large cheeks where he has a scar in the left one, he has 4 strings of hair on the left side of his head, and wears a monocle in his left eye and wears a black shirt. The man refers to the Powerpuff girls as "stupid kids". In his room, he washes his teeth, sits in his bed and picks up and holds an old picture frame of the "Ministry of Pain" while continually expressing his malcontent with the girls with phrases such as: "No good whipper snappers" and "Little girls even." He then stands up, walks to his closet, and opens it. An evil laugh can be heard has the camera zooms out of Pokey Folks asylum.In the morning, in Pokey Folks asylum we can see two elderly men playing a games of cards in a table, when the old man form before approaches and trows a red belt with a skull as the bucked in the table and says, "Well boys, we're back on business". Later on the Powerpuff Girls receive a call through the phone as there was a problem in the bank. Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup head out to the bank, but when they arrive Blossom is surprised to find that the robbers where actually three elderly men. The three elderly men who are dressed in black with a white skull in the middle of their shirts are led by the old man we saw earlier in the episode. When Blossom demands to know who they are he asks: "you mean you don't recognize the most feared evil doers Townsville's ever known?" and adds: "Ooh forgive me, of course not, it was before your time, my child" He then introduces himself as''' Mastermind, and his comrades; Counterpart being a big and stout and 'cohort being small and short. They compose the Ministry of pain. Mastermind claims that they have come out of the timeout to continue their reign of evil and do many bad and nasty things. He claim that they will be victorious because Townsville's protectors are "pathetic little children, little girls even". When Buttercup and bubbles hear this they become irritated and tries to confront Mastermind, but are halted by Blossom who can't bring herself to allow the Powerpuff Girls to beat up old-time villains because it would be considered disrespectful to their elders. As The Ministry of Pain leave the bank, carrying sacks of money, Mastermind thanks Townsville for their riches and the Powerpuff girls for realizing they are no match for the Ministry of Pain. In the bank everybody, including Bubbles and Buttercup, are resentful at Blossom for letting the Ministry of Pain get away. Later the girls talk to the Mayor and he shows them what the news papers are publishing about their defeat, but encourage them not to let the media get them down because they are the Powerpuff Girls who can fly, lift heavy objects and 'laser beam people'. However, when he hear Blossom's explanation to whereas they could not defeat their enemies, as blossom utters their name "The Ministry of Pain" he becomes hysterical and runs to the window screaming "We are Doomed!". Buttercup's and Bubble attempts to convince him that The Ministry of Pain are an easy match for them, which he regard as nonsense. Instead he shows an old video clip featuring the only superheros to have bested the Ministry of pain. The video clip is presented by Cogs-well News called Time Pieces made in 1944 and it seems to be an old news clip or propaganda of some sorts. We can see an old super hero duo, Captain Righteous, and his sidekick, Lefty, defeat and imprison the Ministry of Pain. When the video is over the girls have already left. The Mayor is assuming that they went to hide from the Ministry of Pain. We are then introduced to Captain Righteous. We can see how his apartment at Pokey Folk is a total mess. There is pizza slices, soda cans and socks everywhere. He heats water on his oven, grabs an box of powder tea which he empties in a cup having the logo "I'm #1" and comforts himself in his couch until there is a ring at the door. He opens and finds the Powerpuff Girls, which he refers to as Pumpkin heads, but when they call him Captain Righteous he smiles. The Girls are invited and they sit down in the sofa as he sits in his couch. At first he believes that the Powerpuff girls want an autograph form him, but when Buttercup tell him that the Ministry of Pain has returned he stands up and state in a heroic pose: "City of Townsville, you will once again be able to safely purchase your Frank Sinatra long playing disks, for I Captain Righteous will once again, single-handedly, defeat the Ministry of Pain". However, immediately after Bubbles ask about Lefty he yells "GET OUT!." The girls get frightened and leave. Then we are introduced to Lefty. Where Captain Righteous apartment is mess and dirty with a prevalence of dark color, Lefty's is clean and neat with white and light coloring. Photographs, most of them showing Lefty and Captain Righteous, cover the walls. Lefty, is making popcorn, while stepping it up to some dangerous old dance beats provided by a gramophone. There is a ring on the door and also he is greeted by the Powerpuff Girls, which he refers to as precious little pumpkins. When he is told that the Ministry of Pain has returned and that he must join forces with Captain Righteous to stop them he feels sad as he claims that Captain Righteous hate him and therefore they are not able to confront their enemies together as they once did. But Blossom assures Lefty that Captain Righteous is willing to fight by his side even tough he isn't, and to Captain Righteous she claims that Lefty has no intentions of fighting alongside him. So both agree to fight the Ministry of Pain. The Ministry of Pain comes out of a newly robbed jewelry store and get confronted by Captain Righteous who comes flying from above. He utters the words "not so fast, Ministry of Pain". The Ministry of Pain starts to run without stopping as he repeats this phrase. They are then halted by Lefty who appears in their way. He says that whenever captain Righteous says not so fast, you should either slow down or preferably stop. Captain Righteous is surprised to see Lefty and asks him angrily what he's doing here. A heated wordplay where Captain Righteous claims that Lefty only wants fame for no work and lefty talking him back leads to the eventual break up of Caption Righteous and Lefty, who never had a reunion. The Ministry of Pain forcefully throws Lefty out of their way as he is no longer teamed up with Captain Righteous and therefore only wasting their time. Lefty ridiculously gets hurt in the process and his suffering brings Captain Righteous and him together as a team again. In complete despair of his hurt comrade Captain Righteous makes a final assault on the Ministry of Pain, leading to them all ending up in hospital. This episode ends with Stanley Whitfield covering the news on the previous events concerning the elderly men having to be sent to the hospital, stating his opinion that perhaps none of this would have happened if the Powerpuff Girls would just have saved the day. This opinion is shared by Buttercup and Bubbles, who look upon their sister as she slides away in shame. Trivia *The Townsville newspapers are Townsville Tribune, Gogle (a reference to Google) and The Sun (which is sold for 50¢). *This is widely considered one of the worst episodes in the series (if not ''the worst). *This is one of two episodes not to feature the Narrator. The other is "Documentary". *Pokey Folks, the asylum of the city of Townsville is similarly named as Pokey Oaks, the Kindergarten that the Powerpuff Girls attend. *Captain Righteous was inspired by Captain America. *Although this Season 3 episode first aired in the year 2000, this episode was produced during 1999, according to the credits. *Lefty was inspired by Bucky & Robin from Batman. *In Pokey Folks there is a painting on the wall with three dogs siting on a table, this can be a reference to famous oil paintings of 1903, Dogs Playing Poker. Category:Episodes Category:Season 3 Category:Episodes where The Powerpuff Girls do not save the day Category:Episodes storyboarded by Dave Smith Category:Episodes directed by John McIntyre Category:Episodes focusing on Blossom Category:Vhs